Every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. (RAINN.org) On average more than three women a day are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the United States. (Futures Without Violence.org).

I personally know nine women who have been sexually assaulted (and those are just the friends who have shared their stories with me). One of them was ten years old at the time she was raped. One was 17. Three of my friends were in their freshman year of college.

Protect American people who are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Do not pass a federal budget that includes cuts to Violence Against Women Act grant funding to thousands of local rape and domestic violence crisis centers, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and sexual assault response training for hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers. Gutting these programs will literally cost people their lives, and make the job of law enforcement officers harder.

Since the VAWA was passed in 1994, the overall rate of intimate partner violence in the United States declined by 64 percent, according to a report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.